In Britain, countless churches have been lost to the Gospel or closed altogether in the last fifty years, and many of the faithful congregations that remain have dwindled to a handful. Some, in panic, have yielded to church-growth gimmickry, charismatic worship and entertainment-evangelism in the hope that these will save the day. Others seem to await with patient pessimism their approaching demise.

But none of this was ever necessary, if only pastors and officers, stirred by zeal and faith, had sought to inculcate in their people a thirst for and commitment to untiring evangelism. Surely this should be one of the greatest aims of the minister – to build a soul-hungry fellowship of people ‘holding forth the word of life’. It is a supreme achievement when pastor and people say with Paul – ‘For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!’

Is this not our burden according to the great commission of the Lord? Is this not the priority set before us in the glorious history of the Acts of the Apostles? Then why, O why, do we deny the Lord by allowing soul-winning zeal to run down? Why do we fail to stir up believing hearts to view their churches as God’s light in a dying world? It must be our policy not only to promote evangelism, but to train everyone to be wholly identified with this great aim. Within each congregation solidarity in evangelism should be a most precious objective.

There must be regular evangelistic preaching, preferably one service every Lord’s Day being dedicated to the persuasive preaching of the Gospel. This is frequently pleaded for by this writer. When Paul wrote the words just quoted, ‘Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel,’ he was referring to the soul-saving doctrines of the good news. (We can be sure of this because Paul only ever used the term ‘gospel’ in an evangelistic context.)

There must also be child evangelism, not just a Sunday School that caters mainly for the children of church members, and that has no clear soul-winning emphasis, but a School which is as large as possible, seeking to draw in all the children in the vicinity of the church.

There must be constant encouragement of personal witness (far and away the principal means of bringing lost people to hear the Gospel).

There must be visitation, literature distribution, and whatever other means of spreading the Gospel that the Lord enables the fellowship to undertake. Does it happen in our church? . . . to be continued